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The Key to the PA Interview

The Key To The Physician Assistant School Interview

Not overly rehearsed

You want to prepare for your interview for sure, but you do not want to over prepare. You do not want to sound overly rehearsed and unnatural. The delivery of how you communicate is equally important to the content of the answer.

A good way to prepare for this is through doing a couple mock interviews. This is a great way to practice varying question types, but also to see the flow and confidence with which you answer.

Mock interviews also allow you to see how you handle answering a question you really were not prepared for. How do you do on the spot? You need to be able to handle a situation where you are on the spot, as you will encounter interview questions you have never anticipated. So having practice with versatility in the face of new questions is a good skill to have in your tool belt.

For answers you prepare, have a bulleted list of concrete examples you want to hit on rather than a script, so you can adlib the details as you answer. This is much more natural and how you would actually talk if you were explaining this to someone in real life. You should have an idea of your answer to the most common questions as your main preparation. Check out the blog on MyPAbox titled “what questions to prepare and not prepare for your PA interview” for a guide on what types of questions to be equipped for.

Be personable

Like I said –delivery is important! They are not simply assessing for the “perfect answer”, they also want to see how you communicate. Will you represent their program well as a future student/alumni? Will you be able to effectively communicate with future patients? These are all things in addition to your answer that are being evaluated.

You want to be personable and friendly while maintaining professionalism. It is a fine balance, but being professional is also important. Try to seem as comfortable as possible (even though you will be nervous –it’s ok! Everyone is). You don’t want to come off as if you are miserable to be there, so don’t forget to smile! That is an easy way to come across more comfortable and that you are happy to be there and thankful for the opportunity.

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Check out are article “How to be less nervous for your PA school interview” for more insightful tips on navigating through PA school.

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